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Intel adopts area families for holidays

Intel in Folsom adopted more than 700 local adults, children, and foster and homeless youth in need this year to make everyone’s holiday extra special.

On Dec. 5, employees dropped off several hundred gifts through the Adopt-a-Family Holiday Dreams program, which will be distributed through a number of local non-profits Intel works with during the holiday season. Intel’s partners include the Folsom Cordova Unified School District Homeless Services, which reaches out to the lower income and homeless youth; International Rescue Committee, which supports newly arrived rescues who need items to start a new home; Paradise Oaks, who works with local youth; Sacramento Children’s Home, which supports a lot of foster and homeless youth in Sacramento; the Salvation Army, which supports hundreds of low income families in the area and is one of the most robust programs; and Transitional Living and Community Support, a Folsom-based organization that works with mental health patients in Folsom.

“We partner with six non-profits because our employees are extremely giving, and we want to have a big impact with this program,” said Stephanie Smith, Intel’s public affairs manager. “We have 6,000 employees and everyone really wants to give back this time of year.”

Intel initially started working with Salvation Army for many years, but had added non-profits through the years as they come along.

“Our employees really want to give, and we have had to find enough families to give to. We are constantly looking for non-profits,” Smith said. “During our donation drive, it was really cool to see the mass amounts of gifts that got dropped off, and you know they are going to a good cause. The families are asking for much. Some things they ask for include baby clothes, foster youth wanted art supplies, a grandmother guardian to two girls asked for bed sheets – really simple things to help make their holidays bright.”

Smith said it would be cool to see other local companies participate.

“I know a lot of companies do giving trees, but it would be cool to see more companies rise to the challenge and as a community meet the full need,” she said. “There is a lot of need in Sacramento, as well as other cities.”